Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 200 Blood Words in My Arms

Zhou Zhao frowned as he looked at the name written in blood.

The name Shao Qingqing is unfamiliar to me.

Is it the deceased's name, or the murderer's?
Or perhaps the name of an important person connected to the murder case?
Zhou Zhao thought for a moment and looked at the deceased's right index finger, where there was an obvious bite mark and the bleeding wound had scabbed over.

"It is possible that the deceased bit his index finger and then wrote it down, and it was not done suddenly."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he looked at Liu Huang, who was examining the body, and asked, "Huang, did the deceased have any defensive wounds?"

"No, there were no wounds or bruises on either arm, the deceased's nails were neatly trimmed, and there were no other fatal injuries on her body. There was no redness or swelling on her face, and the corners of her mouth were intact, so it's unlikely that she was forcibly given any medication."

However, the time of death was very short, and some marks on the body have not yet been shown. We can wait and see.

Preliminary assessment indicates the deceased undoubtedly died of poisoning, and the time of death was within the last hour. Once back at the mortuary, I will continue to monitor the livor mortis to see if the body has been moved.

Zhou Zhao nodded thoughtfully. Her ears twitched, and she suddenly stood up and walked to the wooden door to the right of the corpse.

Although it was very faint, she could still clearly hear the breathing coming from inside the door, and a faint gaze.

“Zhou Zhao of the Court of Justice, open the door. I know you’re standing behind it peeking.”

The door cracked open, and an old white-haired woman with slanted eyes and a cane walked out. She glanced at the corpse on the ground, couldn't help but spit, and then looked at Zhou Zhao.

"Young Master Zhou, this man is truly unlucky! I, this old woman, have no good intentions but have no reward!"

Zhou Zhao was not surprised that the old woman recognized her. After all, this place was just a stone's throw from the Court of Justice, and the local people's biggest pastime after meals was to go to the Court of Justice to watch the excitement.

There was no place in the entire city of Chang'an with more talking points than the Court of Justice.

And Zhou Zhao is one of the names that is mentioned most often by her aunts, uncles and other relatives.

"You recognize the deceased?"

Perhaps because she had heard so many cases, the old woman remained relatively calm. She spat at the corpse again, "I only know that her surname is Yan. Yesterday evening, I went for a walk nearby and unexpectedly heard a familiar local accent."

The old woman is from Lujiang, surnamed Hu. Young Master Zhou calls me Granny Hu.

My family is from Shanghulu Village, and hers is from Xiahulu Village. Even if we're not related by blood, we're still neighbors. We got along very well. She said she came to Chang'an to find relatives. She originally said she was staying near the Court of Justice, but she'd moved. She hadn't yet found out exactly where they moved to.

As Granny Hu spoke, she sighed.

"I saw that she was from the same village and had no place to stay. I noticed that her clothes were all patched, so she certainly couldn't afford to stay at an inn. If I went to look for her at that time, I was afraid we would be caught in curfew. So I took her home and rented her a side room in my house for only five copper coins a month."

Who knew that good deeds would be met with such bad luck! I've run into this mess.

Zhou Zhao listened, his eyes flickering. "Take us to her room. Did she go out during the day? Did she ask you about the Court of Justice? Did she mention the name Shao Qingqing? When did she return? Where did she eat last night?" Zhou Zhao asked a series of questions. The old woman was not intimidated at all. She thought for a moment and answered in order as they walked. "It's this room."

“She had breakfast this morning and then went out to look for her relatives. I was worried that she wouldn’t know the way, so I saw her off and pointed out the Court of Justice to her, saying that if she couldn’t find it, she could just ask the Court of Justice for directions. She also asked if she would offend the high-ranking officials, and I told her that the Court of Justice was closed today and the officials would not be coming.”

As she spoke, Granny Hu pushed open the door to a side room, but she didn't go inside.

“My wife knows I can’t just go in, otherwise I’ll be causing trouble. Shao Qingqing didn’t mention it. She came back around dinner time. She bought a dry pancake outside. My wife saw that she looked pitiful and gave her a small dish of pickled vegetables and some water.”

During curfew, I specifically came to remind her not to go out. Then I went to sleep; staying awake wouldn't waste money on lamp oil.

"And then..." Granny Hu's expression suddenly turned strange, "Then I heard that soldier's scream, a scream so loud it could rouse even a dead man from his coffin."

As Granny Hu finished speaking, she angrily wanted to spit out a third mouthful, "I thought there would be a show to watch, so I peeked through the crack in the door, but I never expected to see her corpse. What a curse! If she wanted to die, she should have gone to the Court of Justice to die!"
To make matters worse, I'm going to die right in front of this old woman's door. If the ghost messenger comes to collect my soul and sees how old I am, he might just grab me and take me away. Who can I complain to then? It's truly like a kind farmer encountering a poisonous snake—what bad luck!

Zhou Zhao's lips twitched.

So why did you have to die in front of the Court of Justice?
Is it saying that Li Huaishan is useless, and that the officials of the Court of Justice are better off visiting his grave?

Zhou Zhao's mind wandered as he looked into the room. It was a very small side room, probably built later, and shorter than the main house. The room was very simple, containing only a small couch and a small elmwood chest.

The box was clearly quite old; although it was supported by a shelf, a corner had been gnawed open by rats.

"Zhou Zhao".

Hearing Su Changying's voice behind her, Zhou Zhao reached out towards the voice without turning her head, and sure enough, a torch was shoved into her hand.

With the lights on, some details in the room became clearer.

Zhou Zhao looked at the wooden box, on which was a small blue cloth bundle. Next to the bundle was a bowl and a half-eaten, dry biscuit.

When Zhou Zhao shone the torch, he saw that there was still a shallow pool of water left in the bowl.

On the wooden box that had been coated with tung oil but not varnished, there were some bloodstains. Most of them had been wiped away, but a small amount had seeped in and turned dark red.

"The deceased must have laid the burlap on the chest, then bit her finger and wrote the three characters 'Shao Qingqing' on it. After picking up the burlap, she found that the blood had seeped through the cloth and remained on the chest, so she wiped it off. However, the chest was too old and had lost the protection of tung oil, so some of the blood seeped in and couldn't be wiped off, so it remained."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he softly called out, "Ah Huang."

Liu Huang moved like a gust of wind, instantly appearing in front of him. He glanced at the bowl on the table, and without Zhou Zhao speaking, sniffed it, then took out a silver needle to test for poison. "The water is poisoned..."

As he spoke, he poked the dry, hard cake with the silver needle again, saying, "There's poison in the cake too."

As Zhou Zhao listened, she sighed softly to herself, thinking she roughly understood what was going on.